Sparkling Cranberry Orange Cheesecake

Hello friends! Its the best time of the year…the HOLIDAYS!!!! This time of year honestly makes me so happy. I just want to cuddle up with my husband, put on Christmas music (Kevin absolutely hates Christmas music but he listens to it with me because happy wife happy life marriage is about compromise) and snack on holiday goodies! We have been so blessed with all of the friends we have made here in Texas so of course we had to all celebrate with a friendsgiving. I loved that I got to try out some different recipes before actual Thanksgiving. I found a recipe (Lifeloveandsugar.com) for this amazing cheesecake and I knew I had to make it. This is such a fun twist on an original cheesecake (which are fabulous as well). If you try making this for your friends and family they are sure to love it!

Recipe:

For the cranberries:

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

2 cups fresh cranberries

Crust:

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

Cheesecake:

24 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp orange juice

1/2 tbsp orange zest

8 oz cool whip

For the cranberries you will want to start this the night before. Mix 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in saucepan and simmer until sugar has dissolved.

Pour the simple syrup into a heatproof bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. After that mix your 2 cups of cranberries into the syrup and coat evenly and let sit overnight.

While cranberries soak you can make the crust. Mix the vanilla wafer crumbs, sugar and melted butter.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 10 in. springform pan. Press the crumbs on the bottom of the pan and a little up the sides! Then set that in the fridge to firm up.

Mix cream cheese, flour, sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a large bowl until smooth.

Gently stir in the cool whip then spread the filling evenly over the crust and smooth the top!

Refrigerate for about 4-6 hours. Remove cranberries from syrup and roll them in the remaining cup of sugar. Then let them sit to dry for about 30 minutes.